Samsung Droid Charge Review

Samsung Droid Charge for Verizon 4G

Pros: Stunning colors on the Super AMOLED Plus display

Cons: The screen that packs a punch also packs a little extra weight

Bottom Line: Fast and powerful 4G phone with a great 8 megapixel camera and an outstanding touchscreen display

Without a doubt the main feature of this Samsung that has reviewers salivating is the screen. We’re talking about 4.3 inches of Samsung Super AMOLED Plus goodness. It’s not enough to say the colors are vivid or vibrant – they are simply stunning. The Droid Charge has arguably the brightest, clearest and sharpest phone display on the market. There’s no doubt that the Super AMOLED Plus screens are one level up from even the Super AMOLED screen of the Galaxy S range of phones.

Dual Cameras
The Charge has a main camera of 8 megapixels with LED flash and a front-facing camera of 1.3 megapixels for video calls and self-portraits. Along with Android 2.2 and a 1GHz processor, the Droid charge is one of the first 4G phones equipped with a next-generation HTML 5 browser – which loads and renders web pages and web apps much quicker than other mobile browsers.

Verizon 4G Network Speeds
Speaking of speed, Verizon says users can expect download speeds of 5-12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2-5 Mbps when in an area covered by Verizon 4G.

Call Quality
Call quality is generally very good – no problems with either quality or volume for incoming and outgoing calls, though it must be said that incoming voices can sometimes distort on speakerphone at higher volume levels.

Battery Life
Although battery life is good for moderate usage (and better than the Thunderbolt), heavy web, apps and 4G users will find the 1,600mAh battery needs fairly frequent recharging. Solutions include getting an extended battery or grabbing yourself a car charger for power top ups.

Best Price
Best prices we’ve seen for the Charge have consistently been on Amazon – same two-year contract and plans as Verizon but the phone costs less.